Roots, Resilience and Reconciliation: National Aboriginal Day in Montreal & Val-d’Or

In its 20 years of existence, National Aboriginal Day has come to represent the ever-evolving relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canada. It doesn’t have the recognition that comes with being a statutory holiday. But it is our day to come together, share songs, dances, ceremonies, art, prayers, gratitude and Indian tacos with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, non-Indigenous allies and those who stumble upon these celebrations during their lunch break.

In Montreal, this year’s festivities began just before noon at St-Jacques and St-Laurent with an event organized by Terres en Vues. The event saw three generations of traditional Mohawk drummers and dancers in full regalia lead a march to Place d’Armes, where naming and tobacco ceremonies took place around a ritual fire. Organizer André Dudemaine described it as reminder that, “In Montreal we are on an Indigenous territory. We are here to remember who the real owners of the land are.”

As the march arrived at Places d’Armes, Mohawk Elder Sedalia Kawennotas greeted the crowd of observers with a Mohawk welcoming song that, as she informed the non-Native guests, “may have been the first song your ancestors would have heard when they arrived on this land.” While she sang, volunteers stenciled the Mohawk expression “ENTIE NONKWA : TI” – meaning “Southern Lane” – in red paint on wooden banners.

Dudemaine argued for the necessity of Indigenous visibility in the city. “If you are living or traveling on this land you are connected to the past and the present, and there is a hidden part, which is the Aboriginal heritage that you cannot see or feel in Montreal,” said Dudemaine. “This is our goal, to bring back Aboriginal culture and heritage.”

The matriarch of the Mohawk dancers, Sedalia Kawennotas, also spoke to the necessity of sharing our Indigenous culture with non-Indigenous Canada. “There was a time that people who lived in Montreal didn’t realize Mohawk were living right across the bridge,” she said. “It needs to start in school, those kids, let them learn, teach them about us.”   

After the ceremonies, the Beatrice Deer Band took to the stage and delivered an impassioned performance, calling all present to listen to and care for the Earth and each other.

Many of the people recording the festivities on their cellphones admitted they didn’t know it was Aboriginal Day but were genuinely interested. Even the Elders tried to persuade the younger audience to participate with “a selfie opportunity.”

Elder dancer Leonard Bourdeau commented on the importance of getting the younger generation interested in learning traditional song and dance. “We need the younger dancers to come up and learn the dances as us older dancers move on into the spirit world.”

After the event at Place D’Armes wrapped, the festivities moved to Cabot Square, where a concert with a powerhouse lineup of Indigenous talent took place but not before an opening prayer by a Shuswap Elder, drumming by the Buffalo Hat Singers, dances by the Kanesatake female chanters, and an impromptu performance by a Hopi hoop dancer.

The contemporary performances then kicked off with Geronimo Inutiq, an electronic DJ who incorporates elements of his Inuit heritage into his performances. Next was Cree cellist Cris Derksen, whose recent Juno nod for best instrumental record (Orchestral Powwow) has taken her out Aboriginal box and placed her into the mainstream.  

She spoke of meshing her Indigenous background with classical training. “In all forms of art, there’s always a folding over of tradition into something new,” said Derksen. “So it’s always a process of taking things from [tradition] and making them new again. I’ve always been interested in that intersection where the contemporary meets tradition so I focus my work in that space.”

Derksen believes things are improving for Indigenous people. “There’s been a lens shift across the nation towards Indigenous people,” she said. “It’s not that things have evolved or changed that much. What has changed is how people are starting to receive us. It’s now in a more positive manner than we were perceived before.”

The celebration at Cabot Square concluded with performances by Twin Flames, and the incomparable Beatrice Deer Band.

Throughout the day I spoke to passersby, artisans, organizers, Elders, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, and almost all of them said the same thing: Aboriginal Day should be a statutory holiday, and that there should be more than one day out of the year dedicated to Canada’s Indigenous people. Celebrating our roots, resilience and recognizing who we are as a people is what reconciliation is supposed to look like.

Val-d’Or pays tribute to Native women

by Joshua Grant

In a subtle nod to the abuse of Native women in the north, National Aboriginal Day celebrations in Val-d’Or this year featured an all-female concert lineup outside the local Native Friendship Centre. “Ikwe: a tribute to love” served as the theme as the event kicked off with a grand entry complemented by traditional food and artisan tents.

“I guess that says it all,” said Friendship Centre Executive Director Édith Cloutier. “We really wanted to pay tribute to our women and bring them back to the heart of our Nations. It was a very positive message and there was a really strong turnout of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.”

Cloutier estimated that close to 2000 participated in the eighth consecutive Val-d’Or celebrations organized by the Centre. While the main focus was the outdoor concert emceed by Melissa Saganash of the Cree Nation Government, there was an emphasis on traditional dance, music, crafts and food.

“We had a lot of people showing up with their folding chairs. It’s like an outdoor auditorium,” she related.

The holiday is serves two important roles as cultural celebration and cultural exchange, Cloutier emphasized.

“We can’t take for granted that we have positive relationships, we need to eliminate discrimination and prejudice,” she explained. “The artists bring messages of friendship and peace and it’s a non-aggressive and positive way of teaching others who we are as First Nations people.”